He is known for his soul-infused delivery in hip hop and R&B, displayed in his signature song "Crazy" (with Danger Mouse as "Gnarls Barkley") and his solo single "Fuck You."
Born in Atlanta, Georgia, Green came to initial prominence as a member of the Southern hip hop group Goodie Mob in 1991.
Elsewhere (2006) quickly achieved success with its lead single "Crazy," which charted within the top five in 20 countries including the US and UK; the album was followed up with The Odd Couple (2008).
The song peaked at number two on the Billboard Hot 100, reached the top ten in 13 countries, and won a Grammy Award for Best Urban/Alternative Performance.
From 2011 to 2013, Green was a judge and coach on the American reality television singing competition The Voice, appearing on four of its seasons.
[6] He would specifically address the deaths of his parents in "She Knows" and "A Little Better", from Gnarls Barkley's The Odd Couple (2008),[5] and "Guess Who", from Goodie Mob's Soul Food (1995).
[citation needed] In an excerpt of CeeLo Distilled, a documentary produced by Absolut and the Fader, Green explained that his mother's death led him toward "crossing that threshold over into a career".
[7] Along with Big Gipp, T-Mo, and Khujo, Green was an original member of the Atlanta hip hop group Goodie Mob.
[12] His second Arista album, Cee-Lo Green... Is the Soul Machine (2004), brought a more branched-out sound and more deeply explored southern rap music.
"Crazy" is the first single to reach number one in the UK based on digital download sales alone and is ranked by Rolling Stone as the greatest song of the decade, thus making it Green's most successful project to date.
made a debut at No.1 on the UK charts, notably beating out "Shame" from the recently reunited Robbie Williams and Gary Barlow.
Green also performed "Forget You" with Gwyneth Paltrow and several puppets provided by the Jim Henson Company at the 53rd Annual Grammy Awards on February 13, 2011.
[43] At the 2011 BRIT Awards two days later, Green was joined by British vocalist Joelle Bennett for another duet of "Fuck You".
[46] However, he later dropped out of the tour, citing his busy work schedule—which included a commitment to judging The Voice, writing a new book, and recording a new album—as the reason for his withdrawal.
[47] At the April 2011 Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival, Green had his set cut off while performing and then left the stage.
His set was scheduled to end at 5:40 p.m. At 5:44 p.m., as he was apologizing for being late due to air travel delays, the audio from his microphone was cut off.
[50] On August 14, 2011, Green appeared at WWE SummerSlam, performing "Forget You" and the event's theme, "Bright Lights Bigger City".
[52] The repackaged album contained the original 16 tracks, including remixed versions of "Bright Lights Bigger City" (feat.
[70] The artist attended the 59th Grammy Awards in character as Gnarly Davidson, for which he dressed in all gold, complete with a face mask.
[72] The song is a reworking of Rick Springfield's "Jessie's Girl", with lyrics changed to be about his admiration for Jay-Z's wife Beyoncé.
Green subsequently had a cameo in the 1999 film Mystery Men, as a member of the Not So Goodie Mob, in which he was credited as "Thomas Burton, aka Cee Lo".
[78] On August 14, 2011, Green appeared at WWE SummerSlam and performed both "Bright Lights Bigger City", the official theme song for the event, and his hit "Forget You".
[85] In 2017, Green guest-starred in the Cartoon Network series Teen Titans Go!, acting as himself and Cee Lo Bear in the first and fourth parts of "The Day the Night Stopped Beginning to Shine and Became Dark Even Though It Was the Day"; his cover of "The Night Begins to Shine" from the special was commercially released.
[89] In 2011, it was estimated by a New York Times reporter that Green earned some US$20 million, predominantly from the endorsement deals, in that year alone.
[91][92] On June 16, 2011, journalist Andrea Swensson of City Pages negatively reviewed one of Green's performances, writing that it "failed to measure up to the fun factor of his recorded material.
Green spent most of the set stationed in front of a microphone at the center of the stage, barely moving an inch while he sang, and flanked by two forgettable back-up singers and a DJ that was all but hidden behind a giant LCD display".
"[94] Green promptly received angered responses from some of his followers on Twitter, to which he replied, "Apologies gay community!
"[95] In a subsequent interview with magazine Us Weekly, Green stated that his comments were meant in good fun, adding that "I am not harboring any sort of negative feeling toward the gay community" and that "I am one of the most liberal artists that I think you will ever meet, and I pride myself on that.
"[96] On December 31, 2011, Green sang John Lennon's "Imagine" just prior to the ball drop for New Year's Eve at New York City's Times Square.
[104] On August 31, 2014, Green was criticized for tweets relating to his sexual battery case, including, "People who have really been raped REMEMBER!!